Affordable Housing Advisory Committee

AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS 400 NW 73RD AVE PLANTATION, FLORIDA 33317 THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 Present: Katie Edwards-Walpole, Jon Auerbach, Lynn Stoner, Edwin Cordova, Gretchen Rovira, Maude K Bruce, Leticia Achils Absent: Rick Seraphine, Daniel Levitan Carole Morris – Assistant City Administrator/ /Board Liaison Dan Holmes – Director of Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Michael Alpert –Asst. Director of Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Councilmember Sortal Councilmember Fadgen CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Katie Edwards-Walpole – Chair of Board at 4:30pm APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES June 2, 2022 Meeting Minutes 2022-06-02 AHAC Minutes.pdf Moved by Lynn Stoner; seconded by Maude K Bruce to Approve. Motion Passed: 7- 0 NEW BUSINESS 1. Flexibility in Density Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Director Dan Holmes gave a presentation regarding the annual report timeline, the strategies, flexibility in residential density, reservation of infrastructure and flexible lot configurations.

Mr. Holmes - Flexibility in residential density looks to increase what the allowable amount is, when you are looking at a local zoning map. We are seeking to allow the developer the means to provide the additional housing, as they are not going to put themselves into a hole trying to provide affordable housing. The legal framework discusses a number of provisions within the Florida Statutes to allow us to look at different strategies for affordable housing. To utilize the strategies, one of the things we would need to do, is to assess the local land development regulations and identify areas where density can be authorized. This would require us to look at our current provisions and our land-use scheme within the City to find appropriate locations to apply bonus density. Developers do not want to spend a lot of money to go through a process that they are not sure in the end would be approved. Another strategy is to identify what type of provisions you want to allow in the City, then give administrative rights to allow a developer to move forward. We will need to identify what the true affordable housing needs are in our City. If you are looking to promote low/very low income, you may want to focus the density you are giving to this category of housing, which is a consideration that the local government can look at. We need to ensure; we are providing affordability over a particular time frame. We may have a developer take a rental project with affordable units and five years later they are no longer providing the affordable housing units. Local governments will enter into an agreement to ensure that there is a long-term impact for the units to remain affordable units. We need to ensure that people in the housing units continue to meet the criteria to live in those affordable units for a substantial amount of time. There are a range of options that we can look at if you are interested in putting in place a bonus density program. At the conclusion of the presentation, discussion commenced among the Committee members. AHAC Strategies August 4.pptx At this point in the meeting, they move to item 3. 3. Reservation of Infrastructure Mr. Holmes - When a developer comes to the City, we conduct our concurrency review to make sure that all of the infrastructure is in place. One of the strategies is the reservation of infrastructure - the City can look at its current capacity and reserve a certain percentage of that capacity for future projects that provide affordable housing. 4. Flexible Lot Configurations Mr. Holmes - There are many factors that can affect the ability to have smaller dwelling units that are more affordable to build. This is where local governments can play a

significant role with inclusionary zoning and exclusionary zoning. Developers that are going to build affordable housing can ask for certain considerations for flexibility for each of the standards in that district. It is very important to accommodate setback relief for ramps, etc., that are needed for ADA compliance. Some cities have codes that automatically have built-in standards that can be applied if it is affordable housing. In the City of Orlando, if you are building affordable housing, you have the right to ask for site design incentives, open space, setbacks and zero-lot-line development. Hillsborough County has zero-lot-line development configurations and built-in flexibility into the code provisions. At this point in the meeting, they move to item 2. 2. Establishment of a Process by which a Local Government Considers, before adoption, any policy/ordinances that could affect the cost of housing. Mr. Holmes gave an example of an ordinance that would likely increase construction costs. If we were to pass a new ordinance, that requires a certain type of building, material, etc., this can add to the cost of development. Thus, we are not necessarily promoting the provision of affordable housing. Additionally, we need to ensure that we are requiring the appropriate amount of parking spaces for our developments. If we are requiring excess parking that is an additional cost that we are adding to the developer and to the overall development. We are in the process of putting into place an electrical vehicle charging ordinance. One of the things we had to look at, as we were preparing this ordinance, was to require additional infrastructure for residential developments. We had to consider whether this could have an impact on affordable housing. We put some provisions; if you are developing affordable housing some of the standards for a normal development would be exempt. Discussion ensued among the Committee members. OTHER BUSINESS/DISCUSSIONS Carole Morris advised the Committee members of next month’s agenda items, topics and speakers for their meeting. PUBLIC COMMENTS Plantation resident Max Goldstein spoke to the Committee about his opinion regarding density. ADJOURNMENT at 6:07pm